ProE with or without ProINTRALINK

[jdodson]

I need to pick your brains about something;


my company has 2 engineering locations, one that has been using Pro for about 10 yrs without intralink (about 8 users), and the one where i am which has used it since our implementation of pro almost 4 yrs ago (about 12 users);


the question has been raised as to what value is added from intralink since one location can work fine without it; i think the ultimate goal is to either have both sites use it or no sites use it, and therefore have the same work process; at issue is also the amount of maintenance and savings that might be achieved;


since i have only hadexperience utilizing the programs together, i am somewhat at a loss as to explain or quantify the value of intralinkwhen sitting acrross the table from someone who has used pro longer than me without intralink and finds the system cumbersome and limiting;


we build skid mounted equipment - lots of iron and pipe; assemblies that can range from 500 to a few thousand parts; we currently have a library of about 7,000 parts and are continuously trying to develop standard assemblies, although we do a lot of custom packages;


if any of you have some thoughts or experience to share, i would appreciate it;


regards,


jim d.

 

[looslib]

Do both locations design similar parts?


Do yoiu have similar part numbering systems?


Do you have similar design workflow methods?


Do you share parts between locations?


If you do these things, then Intralink will bea benefit in controlling part numbers, building assemblies, standardizing your library and controlling part history.

 

[jnoval]

Intralink is a better tool that people imagin. There is a lot of great tools that you can use and that will save you a lot of time:


You always know what is the latest version (Withou Intralink you offen have a lot of copys in different folders)


You can rename without having allreferance objectsin session.


Duplicate a complex assembly (multi level) with drawings and select whitchobjects you would like to copy and whitch you will keep as the same.


Access control


Lock objects so other users cant make changes to the design you are working on.


Have many designers to work on the same project


Releaselevels and release procedures.


Object history logs.


....


I would never recommend any to work without Intralink or another good PDM system. I would say the money you spend on maintenance will be saved manytimes. It is a great bennefit to know more than just check in and out.

 

[joemcb1]

Dear Jim,


I am in agreement that working with a PDM system pays for itself not only in protecting the integrity of your data but also in saving many hours searching for the correct data and providing a facility to avoid duplications etc, there are many many other benefits in PDM that I do not have time to list.


If you are considering 3rd Pary Solutions then www.designdatamanager.com is very affordable, has little to no maintenance and works very well over multiple sites.


Happy Christmas to All,


Joe McBurnie
Concurrent Systems Inc

 

[slashct]

Jim,


I am in a similar boat as you, I support several locations and one of our plants years ago decided that they would go off on their own and they tried to install Intralink themselves and failed. The admin installed it incorrectly on the server, lost tons of files and lost many hours in working, so he was let go and Intralink was given a bad name. Needless to say they decided to come back to us for support and they had been using the folder system for years w/o issues, and don't want to go to Intralink. Now a few engineers have seen what I have done in our location and want the same, they see that Intralink is not bad and a good thing. One big selling point to them has been when recently they had a file that went bad (a large assembly) and since the users purge directories they had no backup, we had to have IT go back on the backup system and restore the file which took almost 2 days.
The other issue you have to worry about is access, get one pissed off employee and he trashes everything and now your relying on restoring, plus have two people have the same file open.
All of the points that were brought up are very positive plus the big deal would be reuse of parts, you cannot search the parameters in a windows explorer, or do you know where objects are used.
My issue now is getting all of this data into Intralink, now I have duplicate items and such..... Plus it is woth looking at Intralink 8, since its a matter of time before we all need to go there...... I was hoping of a Feb time frame, more than likely June-July...
There is a tool that PTC recomends for getting data in:


[url]http://products.engineering.com/mechanical/software/p01036/p rodover.htm[/url]


This is one that even the PTC Engineers use, so it has to be decent.